After three days at Royal Troon, the notorious 11th hole - the Railway Hole - remains the toughest on the course.  

This 482-yard slight dog-leg par four, with a massive carry to safety off the tee, gorse on the left and the Glasgow-Stranraer mainline on the right, has thrown up 124 bogeys and 61 doubles or worse.

Henrik Stenson watches on as Phil Mickelson tackles some rough on this horrible 10th hole. The American fires out of the rough, he can't do much but just guide this at the green with no spin. It pitches, it runs, it's a lovely shape and what a riposte to a poor tee shot.

Stenson has more control from the fairway and finds the putting surface with style. Now can he build on it? Silly question. This is golf from another planet right now and his ball is in. Mickelson must respond. What? You thought he might not? In it goes.

Slug. Fest. 

Rory McIlroy shot his best round on Sunday having carded 71 and 73 on Friday and Saturday, but the Northern Irishman is confident he handled the Troon conditions well.

"It was a tough week, I thought Friday, for our side of the draw, and Saturday was a tough day and I didn't take advantage of an easy start on the front nine," he told Sky Sports.

"When I reflect on this week that's where, I won't say it lost me the tournament, but it didn't afford me the chance to get anywhere near the leaders.

"I felt I handled the conditions pretty well, so I leave with my head held high."

Big Body Ben: Not even the best beard in golf. That belongs to Graham DeLaet.

Image source, Getty Images

Rory McIlroy is back in the clubhouse following his best round of the week.

The Northern Irishman, playing at his first Open since winning the Claret Jug in 2014, cards four under for the day and for the tournament.

He made six birdies on Sunday, but others just wouldn't drop at times for the world number four, the story of his week.

He heads in at tied sixth.

The swing of Phil Mickelson on 10 is aggressive from the tee but as his ball begins to dip over the mounds of earth up ahead his stance becomes one of frustration, one hand on the hip. He knows that's gone right and into some rough. Henrik Stenson was much straighter.

This par four has averaged 4.3 strokes this week. One where you can make a mess of things.

That's a bogey for Beef. It was a neat chip shot back on the green, but Johnston can't find the cup from 10 feet.

He rocks back and looks to the sky in frustration, a shot dropped and he is back at evens for the day. 

From just off the ninth fairway Henrik Stenson fires straight at the flag and that is another pin-seeker. The ball comes to rest 10 feet short.

Over to you Phil. Mickelson from the fairway, skips his ball inside by a foot. Both pull putters from their bags.

Stenson up first then. He settles in, a couple of practice swings and his ball is on its way but it's never quite on line and drifts a few inches right.

Here comes Lefty. A practice putt from a yard behind the ball, he steps in, waggles his feet into position...but does not learn from Stenson's putt.

Hole halved in fours? It feels like it.

Andrew Johnston finds the light rough with his tee shot. He's got a good enough lie, but his groans tell the whole story. That's going right, and rolling downhill away from the flag.

Beef makes a tricky chip shot look relatively easy, though, floating it up on the green with a chance to putt for par from around 10 feet.

We've got break dancing on the greens...

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And jubilant high-fives...

Image source, AP

Andrew Johnston is through the front nine in 35. He makes another par on the ninth but is now 10 shots adrift of leader Henrik Stenson.

The man from Barnet remains fourth though. And is still enjoying himself.

Former England batsman and keen golfer Kevin Pietersen is enjoying this battle...

There are three Americans inside the top five currently at Troon. You'll remember the US dominating the leaderboard on Thursday, I'm sure.

The names have changed over the weekend, but carrying the stars and stripes towards the higher reaches - besides joint leader Phil Mickelson - are JB Holmes and Steve Stricker.

Holmes is through the front nine with three birdies that have put him third, while Stricker has made up two shots on the chasing pack to go five under for the tournament.

Ron Sirak of Golf Digest is thinking about how the Phil Mickelson character will shape today.

Neither man has yet made a telling mistake and they both hit to within 15ft of the pin on the Postage Stamp. Stenson up first, right-to-left breaker, the roar goes up. This is quite wonderful.

Mickelson, closer in, he waggles over the ball and then settles, starts it right, it stays right and misses.

"Come on Henrik," shouts another noisy fan.

Andrew Johnston's friend Steve Marsh has been speaking to Radio 5 live from Beef's golf club North Middlesex Golf, where he is watching with 60 other members cheering their man on.

"I have known Beef since primary school and our families are close, His dad taught us to play at a young age and Beef took off and got his handicap down to five by the time he was 14 and he has gone from one thing to another

"It was my friend Mark who gave him his nickname. Beef gave me the nickname of Scuba Steve. There is a whole raft of nicknames here at North Middlesex.

"I am sure if Beef was not playing in The Open he would be here having a round of drinks and we would have played golf this morning. I lost to him last time we played which I am upset about.

"He has had facial hair since the age of 11. He kept it trimmed but grew it out on a long stint on tour. He got some stick from the members here who said it looked disgusting and told him to shave it off. He thought he would keep it and wind people up.

"He was supposed to be going to Lovebox festival with us on Friday. He phoned me this morning and asked me how the festival was. I was surprised because I wanted to hear about The Open. He is a big hip hop fan and was disappointed not to see some of his favourite artists but I do not think he will be disappointed now."

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Some character following the Mickelson/Stenson group is annoyingly shouting "get in" as every putt is hit.

I will blame him for their missed birdie efforts on seven, Stenson's the easier of the two but he pulls it having seen his rival miss.

To the Postage Stamp we go...

Despite finding the sand, Andrew Johnston was on the Postage Stamp green in two and tasked with around a 15-foot putt for par. 

But he can't convert. Beef rolls it a tad left and it was also a little short. He taps in to bogey.

It's also costly for Bill Haas, who drops his third shot in four holes.

Gerald Scott
BBC Sport Online

The leaders in the clubhouse are currently both Englishmen.

Nuneaton’s Andy Sullivan and Matt Southgate, from Essex both shot a final-day 69 to stand on one under.

They are currently tied for 13th place. But, if three players immediately above them were to falter over the next hour, and they could finish in the Top 10 (or ties), it would earn them immediate qualification for next year’s 146th Open Championship at Royal Birkdale.